Remote satellite repair service tested

Years of use could be added instead of 'graveyard' orbits

7:21 AM,
Feb. 24, 2014

Located at Kennedy Space Center but commanded from Goddard Space Flight Center, the RROxiTT industrial robot mimics how future space robots could transfer oxidizer to satellites that were not designed to be serviced.

Written by

James Dean
| FLORIDA TODAY

Wearing life-support suits to protect themselves from hazardous chemicals, a Kennedy Space Center team this month helped NASA advance technologies that could be used to service satellites in space.

Crews stood ready to respond to any leaks while a robot arm at KSC - steered by a controller 800 miles away in Maryland - attached a tool to a valve and pumped toxic oxidizer into a simulated spacecraft's tank.

This seemingly simple robotic task, repeated four times, was believed to be a first. ...